


That Would Be Enough

by darkseid_of_the_moon



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Mutual Pining, Non-Linear Narrative, Online Friendship, Online Relationship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, RPF, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29140794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkseid_of_the_moon/pseuds/darkseid_of_the_moon
Summary: When his childhood best friend, George, moved away, Clay was devasted. As the years passed, he often wondered what happened to the indomitable sunshine boy who left without so much as a goodbye. Eventually though, he moved on and the memories faded.Ten years later, Dream meets GeorgeNotFound online. There's something achingly familiar about him; that voice, that laugh, that unmistakable smile. It's not possible and, yet, here he is; the one that got away. There's just one problem: George has no idea who he is.--“Um, hi.”With just those two words, Clay felt like he’d been punched full force in the chest. Catapulted back through his memories, he choked back a pained curse as a litany of impossibly intense images and emotions threatened to overwhelm his senses. It had been almost a decade; he’d thought himself far stronger than this, and yet here he was helplessly drowning.“I’m George, and I’m excited to be working with you all.”
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Darryl Noveschosch, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	That Would Be Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this idea rattling around in my head for a while, so I figured it was finally time to put it on paper and see if it's any good.
> 
> Important Note: I've taken a lot of liberties with timelines and actual events in this, and I've changed quite a few things to fit the plot. If you see anything really, really wrong, feel free to let me know, but try to let your imagination forgive me for some of the more glaringly obvious differences from reality.
> 
> Anyways, thank you for giving this a chance. I hope you enjoy!

The second time around, they met on a Tuesday.

An entirely unassuming Tuesday, it was much like the myriad of other Tuesdays that had come and gone before. The sun was high and full in the sky overhead, despite Florida teetering on the precipice of winter, and the taller trees that flanked Clay’s window swayed gently in the slight breeze drifting up off the ocean as he sank down into his gaming chair and tapped lazily at the space bar, coaxing his computer to life.

The screen flickered once before turning on, a stray dead pixel in the bottom right hand corner catching his attention as it had so many times already over the past year, and he made a mental note to start saving up to purchase a new one. He knew it would be a while before he could afford it, even with the hard-earned promotion he’d just been awarded at work, but it didn't hurt to be proactive.

His hardware setup, after all, was the only way that he could continue to develop his coding skills. He couldn’t see himself working for a tech giant like Apple forever, but it paid the bills for now. No screen meant no work, and no work ultimately meant that he couldn't continue to fund the projects he really wanted to be working on. Projects like the one he was currently late to a planning session for…

_ BadBoyHalo: Are you online? _

_ [5 minutes ago] _

Cursing under his breath, Clay quickly scanned the other dozen or so increasingly concerned private messages that his friend had left him over the course of the last fifteen minutes. He was sure that the older man wouldn’t actually be annoyed by his tardiness, but he still made sure to fire back an apology before navigating into the MunchyMC Team Discord server.

_ DreamWasTaken: Sorry I’m late. I was out running errands for my mom. _

That wasn't quite the truth, since he’d procrastinated putting the groceries away in the kitchen for over a half hour after he’d gotten home, distracted by a particularly informative Youtube video he’d stumbled upon, but it seemed to appease his friends as a flurry of reassuring messages appeared beneath his own.

_ BadBoyHalo: Join VC 3 _

Nodding at the screen, despite the fact that there was no possible way that Bad could see it, he double checked that his webcam was off before hopping into the busy call. Greeted by the familiar low hum of background noise from a dozen microphones, Clay muted his own and slumped down a little further in his seat.

Most of the senior mods and devs for the server were online, along with at least half the admin team, and he already knew that the updates Bad had requested their presence for was important—and would probably take a while. His fingers itched to distract his mind with other things, specifically with the pet project he’d been working on with Sapnap for the past few months, but he forced himself to focus as Bad began to speak.

Forty minutes later, he had a full page of handwritten notes and the beginnings of a vicious headache lingering at the edges of his consciousness. He wasn't complaining, because he enjoyed his work with this team more than many of the other projects he was currently involved in, but the changes and improvements to the server were complex and promised to challenge even the most experienced among them.

He’d have to put his other plans on hold temporarily, he thought absently to himself. He knew Sapnap would be disappointed when he told him, since he hadn’t been able to make this meeting, but it wouldn't be forever and they could continue to work on it in the background, whenever they had a free minute or two. For now though, MunchyMC would have to commandeer the majority of their free time.

“One more thing, before we end.” He zoned back in abruptly, something in Bad’s tone making his mind sit up and pay attention. He blinked slowly as the main chat on screen came back into focus, three lines of text appearing one by one at the bottom of the window.

_ → XYZGaming just landed. _

_ → GeorgeNotFound just slid into the server. _

_ → Everyone welcome DannyXHD! _

He vaguely remembered Bad mentioning that they were adding new devs to the team this week, and he was sure that he had a short list saved to his phone somewhere, but he’d forgotten all about it until right this minute. A few seconds passed in awkward silence, the entire team waiting on Bad to elaborate, and then three new bubbles winked into existence in VC 3.

“XYZ, George and Danny are all joining our dev team this week,” Bad explained, “to help us get all the new modifications finished in time for the scheduled server reset next month.” Clay could almost picture Bad grinning happily at his monitor as he spoke, the enthusiasm unmistakable in the older man’s voice, and he examined the three new display images on his screen with renewed interest.

Two of them were straight out of some anime, all bright colours and sharp contours. He was pretty sure he’d actually watched one of the shows a few years back, although he couldn’t for the life of him remember the name of the character. He didn't linger on either image for too long, those thoughts flitting neatly out of his brain as his vision zeroed in on the third image. He could vaguely hear Bad speaking again, probably encouraging the newcomers to introduce themselves, but he wasn't listening.

George had pale skin and dark brown hair, cropped short to frame his face. His lips were pulled up into an easy grin in the picture, like he was smiling straight at Clay, but that wasn't why he was so captivated. It was his eyes, dancing with warmth and life despite their muted brown colour. They were small and distant, thanks to the size and resolution of the image, but so eerily familiar that Clay’s chest suddenly felt tight, like he’d suddenly forgotten how to breathe.

It was nothing but a coincidence, he told himself, shaking his head to try to free himself from the avatar’s penetrating gaze. It didn't work, his attention almost immediately drawn right back to the tiny image in the centre of his monitor screen, but he forced himself to take a deep breath when black spots swam in his vision.

There were a lot of people named George in the United States, he tried to reason. A lot of those Georges also had brown hair, dark expressive eyes and a smile that could stop the world from spinning. Just because he bore a small passing resemblance to someone Clay had once known, a long time ago, that wasn't any reason to panic. He hadn't thought about that George—his George—in years, and he wasn't about to start dredging up those painful memories now.

“George, do you want to say anything?”

Despite his fervent reminder to himself, Clay found himself holding his breath again as he waited for the inevitable response. He’d hear an American accent, so different from the distinctive pattern of speech he’d once found utterly engrossing, and that would be the end of it. He’d force his past back into the recesses of his mind once again, where it would hopefully stay for the foreseeable future, and then he’d try to make this new developer feel as welcome within the team as possible.

“Um, hi.”

With just those two words, Clay felt like he’d been punched full force in the chest. Catapulted back through his memories, he choked back a pained curse as a litany of impossibly intense images and emotions threatened to overwhelm his senses. It had been almost a decade; he’d thought himself far stronger than this, and yet here he was helplessly drowning.

“I’m George, and I’m excited to be working with you all.”

It was deeper now, rounded out by puberty and adulthood, but that voice was unmistakable. The cadence, the subtle musical lilt to each vowel, and the way every single word sounded deliberate and carefully chosen to demand attention. Clay thought he might recognise that voice until his dying day, despite never expecting to hear it again.

“I’m based in the UK right now, so I, uh… I’ll probably interact with some of you more than others, depending on what time zones you’re all in.”

With that, George laughed, a soft, resonant chuckle that had once upon a time made a home inside Clay’s very soul. Over the years, he’d somehow managed to convince himself that he’d moved on, had forgotten all about the boy who’d first stolen his heart, but it all came crashing down around him as George continued to speak.

“So yeah, that’s me, I guess.” George huffed out another breathy laugh. “Glad to be here.”

Clay could hear Bad start to say something else, but he didn't wait to find out what it was. Tugging off his headphones, he didn't even bother to exit the voice chat, flinging the offending headset onto his desk and pushing quickly to his feet. Crossing his room like he could run away from the name and image still emblazoned across the screen, he dove head first onto his bed and buried his face deep into his pillow.

“Fuck!”

He could try to rationalize this, he reasoned. He could easily come up with a million reasons as to why it couldn’t possibly be him. He could lie to himself, fight his instincts and ignore the truth, bottling up the emotions inside until they exploded like a volcano. He could run from this—from  _ him _ —until he couldn't run anymore, but it wouldn’t change the irrefutable truth that loomed over him like a shroud.

Ten years ago, he’d fallen in love with his best friend. A sunshine boy who had promised him the world and then disappeared without so much as a goodbye, leaving Clay to pick up the pieces of his broken heart. He’d forced himself to forget, to move on and bury that part of his past deep enough that it could no longer hurt him.

He’d succeeded too, until now. Until this.

Or so he’d thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any feedback, either positive or negative, feel free to let me know below. Constructive criticism is always encouraged.
> 
> I'm going to be continuing this for myself, even if no one reads it, but updates will probably be relatively slow. Just, FYI.


End file.
